No More
by KiyoshiMichi
Summary: At the end of the Final Battle five years ago, many people needlessly died and now Severus finds himself haunted by the memory of one in particular.


So... hey everyone. Been awhile. Anyways, here is this wonderful thing I done wrote. It was mostly just so I could write a weird thing... I dunno. I also wanted to do some shameless advertising at the end... which I will. So, you know, if you love me, pay attention x D LOL

Warnings: Homosexuality, some language, weirdness, OOCness and AU

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

* * *

No More

HP Slash

By:

Kiyoshi Michi

Snape stared out the small window at the storm clouds rolling in across the horizon, rubbing at the angry scar along his neck. It had been bothering him since he woke that morning and though the storm explained a portion of the pain, Snape just had this feeling that was not the main reason for his discomfort. He had refused to step outside his front door because of the strange way magic seemed to be building in the air.

Snape was used to free magic, but it never built up in a specific space. Not unless someone very powerful called it there.

But the only three Wizards Snape knew who could perform such a feat were all dead and buried, long gone. His upper lip curled in disgust as he felt the memory of the last of those burials sneaking up on him. That know-it-all sobbing her little eyes out and one of the Weasley clan punching the Minister and him, standing next to the still open grave, staring down at the closed coffin and wondering where everything went so horribly wrong. He slammed his fist down onto the table, gritting his teeth.

He was not about to allow those memories to take over his mind again. The Potions Master rubbed furiously at his eyes with the heels of his palms. Why was he thinking about all of this now? It had been five years already.

It was then lightning struck just outside his home, causing the normally stoic man to jump ten feet into the air. He clutched at his chest just over his heart, staring wide-eyed out the window. "… Merlin's great wrinkled arse…" He never did think straight after being scared witless by some bloody lightning. The one thing that could startle him every time and it was the damned lightning when it struck close to his home.

He hated nature.

Snape huffed and straightened out his robes, flicking his hands as if to rid himself of the horrid feeling in his stomach. He had been planning on disappearing into his work room in the basement, away from the windows, when the lightning struck in the **exact same place**… six times. It was then he began to think something might be wrong. Lightning did not just strike the same place six times in a row… in less than 20 seconds.

Not to mention the strange gathering of magic he had felt earlier.

Rolling his eyes to himself, Snape gathered his robes around himself before he made his way out the front door, wary of the elements. After all, they were being quite unpredictable today. Later, he would realize that was perhaps more of a sign than he had been willing to admit at the time, but at the time, how could he have known?

He made his way around the corner of his home then stopped dead in his tracks, his hands moving to find purchase on the wall to hold himself up.

There on the ground, lying unconscious, was a young man with vividly white hair and thin blue streaks painted over his face. His clothes were rather simple, with a loose-fitting shirt and baggy shorts, in a pale yellows and striking blues with singed edges all around. His feet were bare and appeared to be burnt black along the very bottom.

Snape immediately thought he had been struck by lightning and rushed over to help the young man but something forced him to stop again. This time though, he actually fell over, landing flat on his bottom while a hand covered his mouth before he could say anything stupid.

On the unconscious man's forehead, in the exact place Snape knew it had always been, was a lightning-bolt shaped scar.

It was Harry fucking Potter.

* * *

Snape sat completely across the room, his fingers pressed together in front of his face as he stared at his… guest. He had been staring at Potter for two hours now, wondering if perhaps he was going insane. It would make sense. Potter had been dead for five years then he was suddenly back with several bolts of lightning and looking quite… different. The white hair and blue markings were the strangest, along with the burnt feet. When Snape had put Potter on his couch, he got a chance to see his hand and noticed the tips of all his fingers looked like his feet – burnt.

"What in Merlin's name is going on here?"

Snape dropped his head into his hands but peeked through his fingers when he heard a pained groan. Potter was moving, his hands going to his eyes to rub at them as he slowly sat up. He blinked his eyes several times and Snape got a glimpse of those green eyes he used to know, now flecked with a glowing neon blue.

Potter raised a brow then looked over to Snape and jumped clean over the back of the couch with a strangled yelp. Snape slowly raised a single brow and waited as a shock of white hair followed by green eyes peered over the back.

"Wha… I… Snape, how'd you get up here?"

"Up where, you imbecile? You're in my home."

Potter gave him a strange look then gazed about the room. "That… explains a lot then." Snape was growing irritated with this brat. Here Snape had mourned his death, like everyone else, and spent five years blocking the memories only for him to be right. Fucking. Here.

Like nothing was wrong.

"Potter, are you aware of your current state of life or lack thereof?"

"What?"

"… we buried you, Potter. You are dead; quite so in fact."

Snape could feel a tic forming in his eyelid when Potter just laughed and waved him off. "I'm not dead! I was just taken away for a few weeks." Snape heaved a long, suffering sigh and once again dropped his face into his hands. Memories from five years ago were flooding his mind and his fingers kept clenching and unclenching. In vain he was trying to keep a hold of his sanity.

Oh nevermind, he was already firmly in the grips of insanity.

"Oh, why in all the seven levels of Hell am I talking to a construct of my mind? Have I spent so long repressing the memories that my very sanity has taken leave? I need… a drink."

Potter watched him walk by, stumble by, using the walls as a support lest he fall again. He could not remember another time where he had been like this, unable to walk due to shock. And now it had happened twice in the same day! Snape decided he was going to drink some nice scotch then retire to bed for a week.

"Snape?"

Snape groaned and leaned over the counter, running his hands over his face. He did not want to deal with this today. He did not want to deal with this any day. Harry Potter was dead, had been for five years, but it would seem his mind could not accept that. It had even changed Potter's appearance to fool him into thinking this whole scenario was real.

"No more…"

Snape suddenly stood up straight and rushed past Potter, causing the figment of his imagination to startle and jump aside. He practically ran up the stairs, feeling a strange clenching sensation in his chest and a stinging in his eyes he hated. His mind was pulling up all these things that he was just not ready to deal with. A familiar ring of laughter filled his head and he slapped his hands over his ears, throwing himself past the door into his bedroom and flopping gracelessly onto his bed.

Why was this happening now?

In the dark, all he could see was that rainy day and the pale body in a dark coffin. The body of a boy – young man – who had wormed his way into Snape's life and eventually his heart. Who went out and fought a battle no one else was allowed to. Who gave up his life so that everyone he loved would be safe and free.

Snape felt a lump form in his throat, one that he hated because it could only mean one thing. Sure enough, when his fingers pressed against his cheek, he could feel the warm, wet tracks of tears. And for the first time since the burial five years ago, the Potions Master allowed himself to break down and sob, unaware of young man standing just outside his bedroom door.

* * *

When Severus woke up, the first thing he noticed was how his eyelids were sticking together. He wondered why until he remembered his breakdown the night before. That would explain a lot – he had likely cried himself to sleep. Not exactly something he was proud of, but it happened and there was nothing he could do about. Hopefully, though, the imaginary Potter was gone. He could not handle anymore visits.

"Good morning, Severus."

Said man startled and ended up nearly falling off the bed as he stared into emerald eyes. Oh Merlin… he was still insane.

"Wait, Severus! I'm not something your mind cooked up, all right? You're not insane. I'm real… completely solid."

Severus almost smacked the young man for talking to him like he was five years old. But he had to wonder if he could even touch him. When he had brought Potter into his house, he had used a spell to get him inside and still had not actually touched the boy – young man. Perhaps he ought to try, just to prove to himself Potter was not real and-

"OW!"

Severus did fall off the bed then, rubbing at his arm. He blinked a few times and looked up at Potter, who still had his arm outstretched and a shocked expression on his face. "Potter… did you just… touch me? And then… shocked me?"

The young man stared down at his hand and furrowed his brows. "I… did. And I don't understand. I was told the lightning wouldn't affect anyone else."

Severus glared at the boy and got back onto his bed. "… if you are real… then what happened to you? We buried you five years ago. I was there." Potter winced when Severus' voice cracked and the Potions Master wanted to slap himself for showing more emotion.

"Ah… right. Though I really didn't know five years had passed. But after the Final Battle, I passed out-"

"You died."

"… all right, I died. Regardless, when I came to, I was surrounded by a group of strange-looking people… in the clouds. At first, I freaked out. But then the people calmed me down and explained they were the physical forms of the elements. You know, Rain, Snow, Thunder, Wind… stuff like that. And it turns out they had just lost their Lightning after a dual between him and Wildfire. I don't like Wildfire either, she's…. she's a bitch.

"So, I became Lightning. They taught me what I had to do and to be honest, it's really fun. Then they got me clothes like the original Lightning that made movement really easy and could withstand the high heat. That's why my fingertips are black… and my feet are black because I walk on the lightning."

Severus stared at Potter for a long time, his face completely expressionless. This continued until Potter actually began to squirm and seemed nervous. Finally, Severus let out a breath and ran a hand over his face. "You're real… and you control the bloody lightning with a group of people who control the other bits. I have gone mad. Completely around the bend. I need to check myself into St. Mungo's."

"NO! Look… if we get someone else here… and they can see me too… will you believe I'm real then?"

It was a logical suggestion. So, Severus nodded and quickly swept from the room, his illusionary companion in tow as he made a beeline for his fireplace. "Potter, you sit on the couch and do not move. I am calling over the only person I trust to tell me honestly if you are sitting on my couch or if I must be taken to St. Mungo's."

Severus made sure Potter was sitting on his couch before he made a call he had never thought he would make.

* * *

"Severus… who the hell is this?"

"Oh shit."

Severus buried his face in his hands while Potter beamed at one Draco Malfoy. Severus slumped down into his armchair then draped over the arm like an emotionally wounded young woman. And he sort of felt like one. Turning out he was insane would have been much better than discovering the man he thought dead was physically in front of him.

"I told you I was real!"

"Shut up, Potter!"

Draco's mouth fell open and he pointed at Potter, a look of extreme shock on his face. Severus just shook his head while Draco seemed to be having a mental breakdown. "This… this is… Potter? As in Harry bloody Potter? As in the Potter you fell in love with?"

Severus glared at Draco through his fingers, hoping Potter had not heard that last bit. Draco at least had the decency to look apologetic. He knew Severus never had a chance to actually tell Potter that before he died. However, it seemed luck was not on Severus' side that day as Potter leaned forward in his seat. "You… you love me?"

"Aw, fuck. Draco."

"Sorry… Severus. It just slipped out."

Severus knew he could not stay mad at Draco. The young Malfoy had lost someone very precious to him during the Final Battle too, but less people had cared about that person's death than Harry Potter's. It was just another thing that had made the Potions Master feel horrible, especially since Draco seemed interested in no one else. It was then he noticed Potter giving Draco a funny look before he spoke.

"Hey… Malfoy. Um… Ron was your boyfriend, right?"

Severus dropped his face onto the arm of his chair as Draco tensed and froze. Why did Potter have to bring that up and how the hell did he even know that? Apparently, that's what Draco had been thinking. "How… how did you…?"

"Oh, right. So, um, he's not… he's not dead either. Or well, it's like my situation but it's different and… I can get him here if you want. We're still friends, which is mostly how he came to be like me. I found out he died and begged people."

Severus was going to punch Harry if he was getting Draco's hopes up just to dash them all. "Well… maybe not here." Severus was actually starting to sit up to go punch Potter right in the face. "I can take you to him though. He's not allowed to leave as freely as I can."

"You can do that?"

Severus wanted to shout, "Are you both fucking kidding me!?" However, he decided against it when he saw the hopeful look in his godson's eyes. Oh Merlin, what was Harry bloody Potter getting them into now?

* * *

Severus hated the fact he even asked as he refused to walk on the clouds while his godson was a few feet away, snogging the hell out of a certain Ron Weasley.

"Look, Ron's happy now too!"

"Potter, get away from me."

Potter crossed his arms and Severus looked back over at Draco and Ron. Said Weasley had changed a bit as well, being far less lanky and somewhat more built… and that red Weasley hair seemed not only redder, but alive. The Potions Master rolled his eyes and looked back at Harry… or Lightning in this world.

"So, if Mister Weasley cannot leave this place, how do you propose they remain together?"

"Malfoy can stay up here. Ron doesn't do much since he's basically just an assistant to Lava."

Severus heaved an exasperated sigh then raised a brow when he felt thin arms wrap around his middle and a face nestle into the crook of his neck and shoulder. He nearly sighed again but stopped himself. After a few minutes, Potter spoke. "Do you really love me?"

Severus only grunted but he could feel the young man smiling against the skin of his neck. "I love you too. Even before we became friends and lovers in my seventh year." Severus grunted again and Potter laughed. "So… will you stay up here with me too?"

Now that was a lot to think about. This was an entirely different world… in the bloody clouds! With someone who was the personification of lightning. Severus was not sure how he felt about that. He would love to be with Harry – Potter – Harry again, but to give up what he did to live on the fucking clouds? What was he supposed to do with his life?

"You can still brew up here."

"… you know me so well, don't you?"

Potter – Harry smiled at him and Severus knew he had made the right decision. He had not been lying when he said he loved the weird young man. And he had made Draco happy again, which was reaffirmed when Severus looked over and saw Draco and Ron huddled together, their foreheads resting against the other's as they spoke in hushed tones. Harry better not expect that of him.

He looked back to Harry only have his lips accosted by the young man's. Well, whatever. He supposed, as he wrapped his arms around the waist that was still entirely too thin, that things could have turned out much worse when he found a strange young man who was obviously burnt from lightning.

* * *

Anyway, here is that shameless advertising I was talking about: magiceverlasting.(b1.)(jcink) .com So, you know... remove the parenetheses and any spaces and there you go. T'is a Post-Potter that is not DH or Epilogue-compliant... and I need admins and mods and players.

So, shameless advertising done, R & R.


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